Karen got started in glass in 1998 when she went looking for a table for her back yard and couldn’t find anything she liked so decided to build her own. The result was a 48″ glass on glass appliqué koi pond that had all her friends and relatives wanting one too. That led to teaching classes and publishing two pattern books. In 2013 she wanted to make a lava table but couldn’t figure out how to do it in flat glass so she got a kiln. Several other tables resulted, including one portraying an 18″ dichro ammonite fossil.
I started my path with creativity early by learning to sew and knit with my grandmother. Sewing lasted, knitting did not. The sewing of clothes flowed into quilt making, macramé, embroidery, wall hangings all using lots of color. An offer for a stained glass class captured my interest and passion and all the fabric related artistic endeavors flowed into stained glass, and glass quilt patterns on stepping stones then windows. The stained glass flowed into fusing glass. At first it was jewelry and small plates but soon became more. I was hooked and never looked back.
For the past 15 years I have been working with glass in some form: jewelry, abstracts, mosaics, fusing functional and nonfunctional pieces, garden art with lots of color. I have taken many classes from very talented people, world famous as well as locally famous. The Glass Guild has provided many opportunities for growth and learning. I’m still looking for my niche.I get inspiration from the outdoors in all the seasons, fabric designs, photographs, and other artists. I love putting colors together in different ways. Working in glass is often meditative and soothing and also frustrating and challenging. The best part is when you let go and let the glass tell you what it wants to do. As Thomas Merton once said “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”. I’m still working on it.
